Xinmin Liu’s article published in Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature

Xinmin Liu, Associate Professor of Chinese, published the article “Greenwashing, Simulated Green and Beyond: Yi-fu Tuan and His Embodied Simulation of Habitats” in Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature published by Duke University Press.

“Greenwashing” refers derogatorily to the “perfect” images of green-and-lush scenery presented by corporate-led publicity campaigns to promote their environment-friendly postures, while they continue with their toxic and harmful business operations. Dr. Liu’s critique of greenwashing goes through a comparison between greening and greenwashing, followed by a critique of counterfeit green and beyond. As Dr. Liu examines countering ethnic ethos and cultural modalities towards the green color to promote ecological awareness, he focuses mainly on the capacity of human cognitive affect for conceiving green as a key venue to rebuild corporeal ties with their biophysical settings and guard against their misuse of green to “fix” landscapes and turn them into desirable human habitats. Dr. Liu revisits Zhang Chengzhi’s ethnic root-searching in North China, where he seeks out the ethnic ethos by working and living among communities of Mongolian and Hui Chinese. While rejecting a disinterested investigation of the local ethnic and cultural “sites” by way of a telescopic gaze, Zhang firmly lays down a battleline against the intrusive gaze of the National Geographic in China and defends a more topophilic approach to study the embodied ways of the Chinese Muslims and stress their distinct forms of dwelling in tune with their natural surroundings.